To wonder if anyone with small children has carpets downstairs?

[boringbeigecarpet]

Ours is permanently stained with food, despite this DH won’t give way to wooden flooring. He likes carpets. I think he’s mad. Does anyone with little children have carpets in communal areas?

The kitchen isn’t big enough @Dejavuvuzella

Lino in the kitchen but carpet everywhere else.

We do have black carpet in the Living Room which helps with stains and no one is allowed to drink milk in there.

I think it’s more odd not having a table (yes, I know some people don’t have space) than having downstairs carpets.

We have mostly carpet. I’d prefer hard floors but except under the dining table (which has a rug I regard as eventually disposable) the rest of my carpets are fine - kids are only allowed food, drinks, pens, paint etc at the table.

Yeah, we had carpets growing up and I don't know anyone who didn't.

They're awful. I grew up with carpets but now I've had my own home with cats and children, I would never lay carpets again. I would have nice laminate then rugs that you can replace.

DH is the same, and we had a beautiful cream carpet in a lounge diner in our last house. Our table used to sit on a big plastic mat like you have in offices to make sure your wheelie chair can move easily. Anything on the carpet mopped up immediately. And we got the carpets cleaned and protected every 18m or so.

Also the more you spend on a carpet the easier it is to clean, weirdly. It was expensive carpet but it only had a few stains when we moved out after 8 years, dd1 was 5yo.

Yes always had carpet in our living room but the kids do not eat on it back part of the room into the kitchen and conservatory is wood effect lino. No shoes no pens no play dough no food unless its eaten on the table. Its lots of fun at my house.

Oh yeah and a dog too

Put a plastic sheet down if you have children that throw food everywhere and don't let them walk around with food .

Always had carpets. Even with DC. Never any problems.

Yes in my living room
And there is absolutely no stains i hoover every 2 days and never had an issue. I have a 2.5 year old. I wouldn't give her certain foods in there to be safe.

Get the giant bottles of carpet and sofa foam.£1 and lasts a good while. As soon as there’s a mark.. clean it up.
That said my carpet is dark grey.

We rent, so are at the mercy of the flooring that comes with our home, that we then have to keep in decent condition to keep within 'reasonable'. So yes, two houses with cream carpets, and three children later, we have learned to be very careful.

Kids eat every snack with a bowl, and are only allowed to drink water in the living room. Meals are eaten at a table, with plastic matting underneath.

We have these floor protectors under their seats at the table: www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/kolon-floor-protector-44881100/
Originally sold in the office section but I notice they now specifically mention kids eating, so I guess we're not the only ones to have done this.

Of course there are accidents, but we just clean them up straight away and I don't think you can tell where anything has been dropped - they're cream carpets though so you can definitely tell they're not brand new!

I have an 19m old and have carpets everywhere bar the kitchen and bathroom.

She has vomited and thrown food on the living room, vomited on her bedroom carpet.

We use a stain remove and have a strong wet vax - carpets smell and look clean still as a result but I have many times toyed with the idea of a wooden floor instead

I’m sorry you think we are ‘odd’ @Theyellowflamingo. I’m sure we will be able to find somewhere less peculiar. The cost of living isn’t going up or anything so this will be eminently affordable.

Living room definitely needs to have flooring I agree accidents happen and the potty trainings days... with a carpet. My DS once threw all over the the living room floor there's no way I could of got sick out of a carpet.

You could buy a carpet cleaner. I have carpets on the stairs and bedrooms as we don't have food or drinks upstairs.

My DDs are in their 30s now, but I had carpet in the dining room and sitting room and even in their playroom, all through their baby and childhood years. Much softer for them to fall over onto when toddling.
I put a large plastic playmat under their high chair, which simply wiped clean of spilled food.
Mine were taught table manners at the earliest opportunity, but frankly seemed far keener to rub food in their own hair than throw it about!

I'd rather a small child fall over and hit their head on carpet, to be honest.

They keep your house warmer too.

I suppose it’s just personal taste. I find wooden flooring so much easier, I’m never confident carpets get really clean, especially when they are beige or cream which most seem to be.

We have fancy laminate and rugs downstairs, carpet upstairs.
Compromise for who loves carpets... He did eventually admit they were easier to keep clean

Omg no carpets downstairs. Wooden floors all the way with toddlers and pets (can’t quite tell the difference to b honest 😂) I’d have had so many stains by now. We do currently have an area that is the play area which has the play foam mats. But they are also easy to clean. Good luck- invest in a carpet cleaner? X

I have to vote for hard floors! Had carpets in our previous house and even following the 'leave shoes by the door' and 'food only at the table' rules it was still a nuisance. What you cannot account for is nappy blowouts, VERY sicky baby (due to lactose intolerance), potty training accidents, tummy bugs etc. My DH was very much a carpet everywhere bloke but after scrubbing carpets with vanish at 3am he decided against having carpet again in the future in the meantime though I would recommend chucking one of those big plastic tablecloths under the highchair, this was a god send in those early weaning days!

We have carpet in the living room. I find anything else cold and uncomfortable. Shoes get taken off when we come in and activities such as paint, play doh etc are done at DS small play table. I also had the wipeable floor mats for going under the high chair when he was small. We've had a few spillage/ sick incidents but nothing I haven't managed to get up with 1001 spray. Also use a vax carpet cleaner every so often to keep it fresh. We've had the carpet down 4 years and it looks good as new.

3 kids under 8 and a dog and we have carpet downstairs… cream, in fact! It’s fine. Wouldn’t have chosen it myself but we inherited it when we bought the house and it’s in too good condition to replace.
We do have a vax carpet shampooer and use that maybe every 3 months.

We are cream carpeted everywhere, upstairs and downstairs, except the kitchen/diner and bathroom. We're relatively stain free but I have them professionally cleaned every couple of years.
We haven't allowed the kids to walk around with food or eat anywhere except the kitchen. They're older now and I'll allow drinks in the lounge but still no food and prefer them to use their drinks bottles if they're wandering around, rather than glasses.
Of course I allow myself to eat wherever I please but the difference is that I immediately clean up anything I drop (rarely happens!).
We're also a shoes-off-inside house.